The religious present were 30 nuns from the order of Infant Jesus, Little Sisters of the Poor, Franciscan Missionary and Cannosian Daughters plus a lone Brother from La Salle, Br. John De Cruz.

Deacon Christopher Lim, who will be ordained in March this year, was present too.

In Bishop’s homily, he first directed it personally at all religious, not only those present that day but those who were not be able to be present, including the sick and homebound.

“There is one passage that is very dear to the religious” he said, “that is, ‘Many are called but few are chosen’. You had responded. You response but the call and choice came from the Lord.”

He pointed out another scripture passage, where Jesus spoke to Mary “But only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:42)

“What is that one thing needed when you respond?” he asked, “Only one thing is important, not that 100 things if you just catch that one thing. Things like evengelising, charity, poverty, submission – all these are important but one thing stands out.”

He then focused on the Feast of the Presentation. He informed that at the temple where the infant Jesus was presented, there were four key characters – Simeon, the priest and his wife, Anna, Mary and Joseph, parents of Jesus.

“You’ll notice the infant Jesus did nothing. He was just there – to be present. The other four people’s concentration were fully on the infant Jesus. They acknowledged the infant Jesus as a gift from God the Father to them. A gift to the world.” said Bishop.

“I invite you for a moment, to think of yourself as the infant Jesus. One thing that is very certain is that if you placed yourself in the hands of these four people (Simeon, Anna, Mary, Joseph), you will be in safe hands. Let them do what they want with you. You are the few chosen.”

“The harvest is full but the labourers are few. You are the few who had responded. Taking care of the harvest is not your job but God’s job. Pray to the Lord of Harvest, to send more labourers. Today, you have received the gift of the Father, the gift of Jesus Christ, his Son. You are here to offer back the gift. Let us join everyone, the people of God to enter the door of faith and let faith lead the way.”

In alluding to the saying, “When the disciple is ready, the guru will appear”, Bishop said that in today’s feast, the four disciples of Jesus were ready, and because they were ready, the ‘guru’ (the Lord) appeared to them. Therefore, he hoped that the Religious will be ready when the Lord appeared to them.

Addressing the people, when he touched on the first reading, he asked how many parents would offer their child to God the moment the child was born? On the second reading, where he pointed out that out of the gifts of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest – he also noted that the door of faith will lead to the door of love, so he urged the people not to forget to enter the door of faith.

The Religious present, then went up in front of the altar, to take their renewal of vows, after the homily. They also prayed the vocation prayer.

There was s short powerpoint presentation on ‘What is consecrated life’ after the post communion prayer.

Parishioners joined in with the Sisters, Brother and Fathers after Mass for fellowship.